Good church government is the natural outcome of good self-government. Good self-government, widely practiced, promotes the smooth operation of the organizational activities of church. Such government includes the self-knowledge and self-immolation that benefit both the individual and the whole membership.
To the Christian Scientist, self-government entails the abandonment of some commonly accepted thought processes. For instance, he gladly leaves the mortal sense that there are many intelligences for the true sense that there is one infinite Mind. This spiritual outlook reveals enough Mind here and now for everyone. In actuality, divine Mind is eternally expressed in man.
The value of this viewpoint became evident in the government of the only Church of Christ, Scientist, in a large community. Services were regularly overcrowded. After adequate deliberation a meeting was held for the purpose of forming a new branch of The Mother Church. This action was accompanied by an agreement among the members concerning the government of the forthcoming church. The agreement was a kind of pact that the new church, like the original branch in that city, would be kept free from control by any one person or group. In fact, the pact was in terms of every individual concerned promising to make the effort to govern himself rather than be governed by others. The agreement was successful.
